Champaign man gets 12 years in 2021 shooting outside bank

Feb. 16—URBANA — A Champaign man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on gun and drug charges for his involvement in a 2021 shooting in west Champaign

Champaign County Judge Randy Rosenbaum handed down the sentence Thursday to Devlon V. Miles, 23, after he was convicted by a jury in December of aggravated discharge of a firearm and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

The state dismissed two cases against Miles, including one that charged him in 2022 with the attempted murder of a 9-year-old in a 2019 shooting. The other case alleged that police found cannabis and a gun on his property in 2020.

At the Dec. 6 trial, prosecutors said police responded to a shooting in the 2100 block of West Springfield Avenue on May 11, 2021, and found around 50 bullet casings in a parking lot and a trail of blood.

The jury found that Miles was one of four people captured on a surveillance camera that day outside Heartland Bank and Trust Co., 2101 W. Springfield Ave., firing in the direction of the Smoker's Spot tobacco shop, 2107 W. Springfield Ave. The footage showed one of the individuals accidentally get hit by one of the shooters behind him.

Miles was dropped off at an Urbana hospital later that day with a gunshot wound to his left leg. While he was being treated, police recovered seven bullets, a magazine for a handgun, and about 12 packages of cocaine from his pants.

Miles faced between four and 15 years in prison on each of the Class 1 felony charges. Assistant State's Attorney Chris McCallum recommended Thursday that he receive a sentence in the upper end of that range.

McCallum called Champaign police Detective Lance Carpenter to the stand, who testified that Miles was a member of a local gang that has been feuding with another local gang since 2014.

Carpenter said a 2020 search warrant conducted at Miles' address turned up half a pound of cannabis and a firearm from a car in the driveway.

Bullet casings from the firearm allegedly linked it to four previous shootings in Champaign and another in Chicago.

Regarding a separate incident, the detective said Miles got into an altercation with a member of an opposing gang on Dec. 1, 2019, outside the Blue Star 2 convenience store in Champaign.

McCallum said a search of Miles' cellphone showed him exchanging threatening messages with that man, whose 9-year-old cousin was shot later that same day — the basis for the now-dismissed attempted-murder charge.

McCallum argued that Miles has an extensive criminal history that has escalated in violence, and while only circumstantial evidence links him to other shootings, the court needed to send a strong message to deter others involved with guns and gang activity.

Recommending eight years in prison for her client, Chief Public Defender Elisabeth Pollock argued he was largely unsupervised by his parents and enmeshed in gang culture since he was at least 13, before his brain fully developed.

Pollock asked the judge to substantially discount the significance of Carpenter's testimony, as guns possessed by gang members are often passed around, so just because Miles had access to the gun found in the 2020 search doesn't mean he pulled a trigger at those five other shootings.

Pollock also indicated that Miles had an alibi for the 2019 shooting, as a social-media post put him in a different location 17 minutes after the 9-year-old was shot.

Rosenbaum noted that most of Miles' criminal history consists of juvenile adjudications, and letters from his family and friends characterize him as someone with a troubled past but family-oriented protective and on a journey of self-improvement.

But the judge ultimately said Miles can only be in the wrong place at the wrong time so many times, and circumstantial evidence shows he has aided or abetted other crimes.

Rosenbaum added that letters from Miles' family shows he grew up with good relationships to his parents and everyone has rehabilitative potential, but Miles has not followed through with previous opportunities for treatment in the juvenile justice system.

Miles was given credit for 1,011 days already served in jail.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and 12 years for aggravated discharge but ordered to serve the two sentences concurrently.